Kemper Corporation is an American insurance holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company’s visual identity has undergone two significant transformations since 2011, when it adopted the Kemper name, and again in 2018 with a complete brand refresh.
Design and History
In August 2011, Unitrin, Inc. officially became Kemper Corporation, adopting the name of its insurance division. The company partnered with Lippincott, a New York-based brand strategy and design consultancy, to create the new brand identity.[1] The 2011 logo featured a stylized “K” composed of two overlapping triangles, placed next to the name “KEMPER” in all capital letters.[2] Lippincott’s design team provided a symbol-dominant logo described as a folded-plane yellow K monogram with an all-caps wordmark.[3]
In October 2018, Kemper announced a refresh of its core brand elements, including a new logo, positioning and product line architecture.[4] The new logo dropped the gold color scheme of the 2011 design and adopted a wordmark set in navy blue and red.[5] The 2018 refresh eliminated the geometric symbol entirely, moving to a purely typographic logo with emphasis placed on the “K” letterform.[6] The company stated that the new bold and vibrant logo in navy blue and red embodies the characteristics of its committed team of employees and the qualities of trust, strength and reliability.[4]
The 2018 refresh was accompanied by a new brand positioning, “Affordable protection in an ever-changing world.”[4] Over the following 15 months, the company’s businesses transitioned to four sub-brands: Kemper Auto, Kemper Personal Insurance, Kemper Life and Kemper Health.[7]
Meaning and Symbolism
For the 2011 logo, Kemper stated that the “K” composed of two overlapping triangles was designed to represent the Kemper qualities of being trustworthy and attuned to its customers’ needs. The gold color was intended to reflect the warmth and approachability of the Kemper brand and its team members.[1]
For the 2018 wordmark, the company described the navy blue and red colors as embodying the characteristics of its committed team of employees and the qualities of trust, strength and reliability.[4] The current logo is registered as a stylized wordmark in which all letters appear in blue except for the top left portion of the letter “K,” which appears in red.[8]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
